Jerome Adams, MD, an anesthesiologist and President Donald Trump's pick for U.S. Surgeon General, prioritized efforts to combat the opioid epidemic as Indiana's health commissioner, according to NPR.
In early 2015, Indiana health workers identified 26 cases of HIV in Scott County. By May, the number of confirmed cases jumped to 158. Eighty-eight percent of these individuals also tested positive for hepatitis C. Increased injection drug use was the impetus behind the outbreak.
Many health workers in the state credit Dr. Adams with convincing then-Gov. Mike Pence to permit needle exchanges in the state to help curb the spread of disease — a practice Mr. Pence previously opposed on moral grounds, according to NPR.
Addiction specialists believe Dr. Adams would use his on-the-ground experience in Indiana to guide national policy.
"Dr. Adams understands the value of community grassroots efforts, that they should be included at the table with decision makers," Justin Phillips, founder of the prevention-focused group Overdose Lifeline, told NPR. "They need to understand what's realistic in the field."
Beth Meyerson, PhD, co-director of Indiana University's Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention in Bloomington who worked with Dr. Adams during the outbreak, told NPR the state health commissioner would likely bring his political savvy to Washington, D.C.
"Dr. Adams navigated the very ideological political environment that was created by then-Gov. Pence. There's just no doubt the governor wouldn't have listened to me or listened to the leaders in the legislature, but he would listen to Jerome Adams," Dr. Meyerson told NPR. "He will navigate [Washington], I suspect, the same way that he did in Indiana, which is to listen to communities, work with several partners across the arena, and bring public health evidence to the table again as an advocate for community health."
More articles on opioids:
5 things to know about the race to identify new deadly opioids
Surgeons shun opioids, turn to Tylenol and anesthetics instead
Oklahoma AG files suit over opioid epidemic